Nghe An Athletics and the resilience of young athletes

The ups and downs

When it comes to Nghe An athletics, experts immediately think of Tran Thi Soa - the first and only athlete under the management of the provincial sports sector to participate in the Olympics. In the late 1970s, Tran Thi Soa won consecutive national championships and became the "athletics queen" of Vietnam at that time. She was twice in the top 10 list of outstanding athletes in 1978 and 1979, representing Vietnam in the world youth and student athletics tournament held in Cuba in 1979 and the pinnacle was representing Vietnam in the Moscow Olympics (former Soviet Union) in 1980.

After Tran Thi Soa, from 2000 - 2010, Nghe An athletics had athletes at the national level such as Nguyen Thanh Hai (short distance running), Ngo Dang Quang (weightlifting), Ngo Xuan Dung (walking)...

Nghe An athletes participate in the Ho Chi Minh City Open Athletics Tournament - a training tournament before the 2022 National Sports Festival. Photo: NVCC

However, since 2011, Nghe An athletics’ achievements have tended to decline as it has encountered many difficulties in competing for medals at the National Athletics Championship - the biggest tournament of the year for this sport. At youth tournaments (including the National Youth Athletics Championship and the National Athletics Championship for young age groups), the number of medals won by Nghe An athletes is also quite modest. That is why for many years Nghe An athletics has not contributed any face to the national team to participate in major tournaments such as ASIAD, SEA Games or international athletics tournaments...

The reason is that the treatment for high-performance athletes is still low; track and field athletes have much more difficulty finding jobs after retirement than those in martial arts or football, so they are not confident in sticking with their sports career; convincing families to allow amateur athletes with potential to become professional track and field athletes is also difficult.

Besides, from 2012 to 2017, due to financial difficulties, the Provincial Sports Training and Competition Center could not maintain amateur sports classes in the district, and athletics was one of the most severely affected sports.

Previously, the athletics department opened 10 amateur classes in the districts each year to create a source of talented athletes and most of the athletes selected for the selection team were from these source classes; during this period, the selection of athletes was only carried out through grassroots competitions such as the Phu Dong Sports Festival and cross-country races...

Prosperity and hope

However, since 2017, the Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center has been allowed to reopen amateur talent classes in districts, cities and towns, creating more favorable conditions for selecting track and field athletes.

Along with that, when Decree 52/2018/ND-CP dated November 7, 2018 "Regulations on a number of regimes for coaches and athletes during training and competition periods" and Circular 86/2020/TT-BTC dated October 26, 2020 "Detailed regulations on specific nutritional regimes for high-performance sports coaches and high-performance athletes" were issued, the improved regime for high-performance athletes created an important motivation for athletes in general, and track and field athletes in particular, to confidently contribute and strive to improve achievements for the province's sports.

Ms. Ha Thi Kim Anh - Head of the Athletics Department of Nghe An Sports Training and Competition Center said: "Nghe An Athletics Team currently has 31 athletes, including 7 male athletes and 24 female athletes, divided into 2 specialized groups: Short run and walking.

From 2018 to present, the achievements of Nghe An athletes have improved in both youth tournaments and national championships. Notably, in 2022, Nghe An Athletics athletes won 5 gold medals, 5 silver medals and 4 bronze medals at youth tournaments; won 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal at the National Athletics Championships in relay events. In addition, they also won 6 silver medals and 1 bronze medal at open tournaments organized by provinces and cities.

Number of athletics medals won by Nghe An from 2018 - 2022. Graphics: Minh Quan

Number and classification of medals won by Nghe An athletics from 2018 - 2022. Graphics: Minh Quan

With the above results, although not too outstanding compared to other provinces and cities, Nghe An athletics has gradually improved, gradually escaping the silence and stagnation in achievements in the mid-2010s.

In particular, in 2022, Nghe An athletics contributed 2 young faces to the National team to participate.SEA Games 31are Nguyen Dinh Vu (born 2003, men's 4 x 100m relay) and To Thi Nga (born 2001, men's 4 x 100m relay). Although they did not win any medals at this SEA Games, these faces have affirmed the rise of Nghe An athletics after a period of stagnation.

Nguyen Dinh Vu (number 215) is one of the promising athletes of Nghe An athletics. Photo: NVCC

In there,Nguyen Dinh Vu- who has competed excellently against prominent opponents of Vietnamese athletics in the past 2 years, promises to continue to have developments and achieve impressive results.

At the National Youth Athletics Championships, Nghe An Athletics demonstrated its superiority in the walking events, from 3000m to 10,000m for women, when there were 2 athletes winning the highest positions in the 10,000m women's walking event, Dau Thi Na (born 2004) and Ho Thi Van (born 2006). Dau Thi Na was selected to compete in the 20,000m women's walking event at the 2021 National Championship in December 2021, competing with accomplished seniors such as Nguyen Thi Thanh Phuc (Da Nang, SEA Games 31 gold medal), Pham Thi Thu Trang (Hanoi, SEA Games 30 gold medal)...

Ho Thi Van is the best athlete in the under-18 age group, having just broken the national youth record for the 2005-2006 age group at the 2022 National Youth Athletics Championship held in Kon Tum province in July this year.

These are also the faces expected to shine at the upcoming 9th National Sports Festival in Quang Ninh province - the final and most important tournament of the year, as well as other tournaments in the coming years.

We are very happy that the provincial athletics department has found itself again with achievements in the past year, because before that, there was a period when the team faced many difficulties. I hope that the athletes will practice hard, improve their character and compete well to achieve the expected results at the upcoming 9th National Sports Festival.

Mr. Nguyen Van Hue - Deputy Director of Nghe An Province Sports Training and Competition Center.